Tang Dynasty: Taking the Empress Dowager to a brothel, Father Emperor, what a coincidence!

Outside the Donggong Gewu Academy.

Li Gang lifted the carriage curtain and jumped down without even stepping on a footstool.

Several old scholars from the Imperial Academy followed behind, panting heavily.

"Teacher Li, please take it easy."

An old scholar adjusted the turban on his head.

Li Gang roared as he walked:

"What's with the slowness? If we slow down any further, that little brat will destroy the cultural heritage of the Tang Dynasty."

The guards at the entrance were about to stop him, but when they saw that it was the Imperial Tutor, they dared not move.

Everyone knows that this ancestor has a fiery temper; he even dared to point his finger at the Emperor and curse him. They wouldn't dare to stop him even if they had ten times the courage.

Li Gang rushed into the wooden shed where the class was to be held without any hindrance.

boom!

The door to the wooden shed was kicked open.

The hundred students from impoverished families were startled and turned to look in unison.

Li Gang pointed at Li Chengqian on the stage and started cursing.

"Outrageous! The Crown Prince, instead of studying the classics, is teaching a bunch of commoners these strange and frivolous skills. How can you face your ancestors? How can you face all the scholars in the land?"

Several old scholars echoed his sentiments.

Ma Zhou and the others were so frightened that they quickly stood up.

This is Li Gang, a literary giant and a living god in the hearts of scholars.

Li Chengqian wasn't angry. Instead, he threw the chalk on the table and dusted off his hands.

"The Grand Tutor has arrived at just the right time."

Li Chengqian pulled over a chair and placed it next to the podium.

"I've just gotten to a crucial point; would you please sit down and listen?"

Li Gang flicked his sleeves.

"I won't sit. I'm here today to hear what kind of twisted and heretical arguments you can come up with."

"Okay, then you can stand and listen."

Li Chengqian turned around and pointed to an apple drawn on the blackboard.

"We were just talking about why ripe apples fall to the ground instead of flying into the sky. Ma Zhou, you tell us about it."

Under Li Gang's murderous gaze, Ma Zhou spoke in a low voice:

"His Highness said this is called gravity, a type of gravitational force..."

"Nonsense!"

Li Gang interrupted Ma Zhou directly, pointing at the blackboard and yelling,

"What is gravity? The Book of Changes says, 'Heaven is high and earth is low, thus the universe is established.'"

The pure qi rises to become the sky, while the turbid qi sinks to become the earth.

Apples are physical objects, and because they contain heavy, turbid air, they naturally sink to the ground. This is the principle of yin and yang in the universe.

Several old scholars nodded repeatedly.

"What the Grand Tutor said is absolutely right; this is the correct reasoning."

"Your Highness, your so-called gravity is utter nonsense."

The students below looked at each other in bewilderment.

Li Gang's influence is immense, and his words sound mysterious and intimidating.

After hearing this, Li Chengqian couldn't help but laugh:

"Grand Tutor, according to you, the heavier something is, the heavier its turbidity, and the faster it falls down?"

Li Gang raised his chin and said:

"That's natural! A ten-pound iron ball will naturally fall faster than a one-pound iron ball. That's common sense."

"What a common sense."

Li Chengqian tapped on the podium.

"Keep silent!"

Cheng Chumo emerged from behind.

"Your Highness, I'm here."

"Go to the storeroom and get a ten-pound iron ball and a one-pound iron ball. Take the men and come with me to the Moon-Gazing Tower in the East Palace."

Li Chengqian looked at Li Gang with a smile and asked,

"Grand Tutor, do you dare to make a bet with me?"

Li Gang stared wide-eyed and asked:

"What are we betting on?"

"Let's bet on these two iron balls. I say they'll land at the same time. If I lose, this school will close immediately, and I'll go to the Imperial Academy to serve you tea and water."

Li Chengqian began to set a trap for Li Gang.

"If I win, you'll have to admit that your theory of Yin and Yang is wrong."

Li Gang, furious, laughed instead:

"Fine! I'd like to see what other tricks you have up your sleeve."

After an incense stick has burned.

A large crowd gathered at the foot of the Moon-Viewing Tower in the East Palace.

One hundred impoverished students, several old scholars, and the imperial guards who rushed to the scene crowded the area below the tower.

Li Gang stood at the very front, looking up at the top of the tower.

The Moon-Viewing Tower is seven or eight zhang tall.

Li Chengqian and Cheng Chumo stood on the edge of the tower.

Cheng Chumo held a ten-pound cast iron ball in his left hand and a small iron ball weighing only one pound in his right hand.

"Your Highness, are you really going to throw it away? This ten-pound thing will definitely fall down first."

Cheng Chumo muttered to himself.

Li Chengqian ignored him and shouted down:

"I saw everything clearly."

Li Chengqian grabbed Cheng Chumo's wrists and shoved him outwards.

"put!"

Cheng Chumo released both hands at the same time.

Two iron balls, one large and one small, began to fall rapidly.

Everyone below the tower held their breath, staring intently at the two iron balls.

Li Gang snorted coldly, preparing to teach this arrogant prince a lesson as soon as the iron ball hit the ground.

boom!

A loud bang.

There is no order of precedence, no fast or slow.

The two iron balls fell to the ground at the same instant.

A ten-pound iron ball smashed a small crater, while a one-pound iron ball bounced to the side and rolled to Li Gang's feet.

The entire venue was deathly silent.

Several old scholars rubbed their eyes, their faces full of disbelief.

Li Gang looked down at the small iron ball at his feet, and his mind went blank.

"This...how is this possible?"

Li Gang took two steps back, almost losing his balance.

"How could the turbid air from a ten-pound iron ball be ten times heavier than that from a one-pound ball, and both land at the same time?"

Li Chengqian walked down the stairs, clapped his hands, and said:

"Grand Tutor, facts speak louder than words. Your yin-yang theory of turbidity cannot explain this."

Li Gang's face was deathly pale, and his lips trembled.

The common sense about heaven and earth that he had believed in all his life was shattered at this moment by two iron balls.

Li Chengqian walked to the center of the courtyard and had Xiao Shunzi bring out a huge sand table model.

The model has a round wooden ball in the center, with several small wooden balls hanging around it by wire.

"Grand Tutor, I have something else to show you."

Li Chengqian pointed to the large wooden ball in the middle.

"This is the earth beneath our feet. It's not flat; it's a sphere."

"absurd!"

An old scholar couldn't help but jump out and say,

"If the earth were round, wouldn't the people underneath fall into an abyss?"

Li Chengqian ignored the scholar and pointed to the model, explaining:

"This is what I just mentioned as universal gravitation."

The earth has gravity, which pulls everything to its surface.

An apple falls to the ground because the earth's gravity pulls it down.

The two iron balls fall to the ground at the same time because gravity acts on them equally, regardless of their weight.

Li Chengqian rotated the model, and the small wooden ball next to it began to rotate around the large wooden ball.

"The sun, moon, and stars in the sky are all suspended in the air and move along fixed trajectories because of the pull of gravity."

This is the true principle of heaven and earth. It's not about pure or impure energy; it's the fundamental law.

Li Gang stared intently at the rotating sand table model, his mind churning.

At this moment, the Confucian worldview that had been around for decades began to show a crack.

He touched the sphere that represented the earth.

"Universal gravitation... everything has its own laws..."

Li Gang muttered to himself, his eyes suddenly reddening.

Two lines of tears streamed down his wrinkled face.

"Grand Tutor!"

Several elderly scholars were terrified and quickly went to help him up.

Li Gang shoved them aside, straightened his robe, and walked up to Li Chengqian.

Under the horrified gaze of everyone, this tutor to two emperors and a leading figure in the Tang Dynasty's literary world actually knelt down.

This startled Li Chengqian.

He hurriedly reached out to help Li Gang.

But Li Gang left him behind.

"If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening."

I'm over seventy years old, and only today have I finally opened my eyes to see this world.

Your Highness, I, in the humble opinion of a disciple, humbly request to borrow the book "Nature and Science."

Li Chengqian quickly helped Li Gang up and said:

"Grand Tutor, you flatter me. If you wish to read, I will have a new set sent to you immediately."

Li Gang gripped Li Chengqian's hand tightly, so excited he was incoherent.

"Thank you, Your Highness! Thank you, Your Highness!"

three days later.

Imperial Academy Lecture Hall.

Hundreds of students from the Imperial Academy sat upright below, waiting for Li Gang to lecture on Mencius.

Li Gang walked in carrying a thick stack of books.

"We won't be discussing Mencius today."

The students below were stunned.

"Teacher Li, what should we talk about?"

Li Gang pulled out a copy of "Nature and Science" from the stack of books.

"Let's talk about universal gravitation. Let's talk about optical refraction. Let's talk about the sphere beneath our feet."

Li Gang excitedly drew a circle on the blackboard, and then he drew an apple.

"Listen carefully, the apple falls because of gravity. When a ten-pound iron ball and a one-pound iron ball fall at the same time, that's called free fall."

The students were all dumbfounded.

Is this still the same Li Daru who always spouts benevolence and morality?

Why is he spouting all those crazy ramblings from the Eastern Palace?

A student from a prominent family stood up and shouted angrily:

"Master Li! How can you talk about these strange and ingenious skills? This is heresy!"

"fart!"

Li Gang slammed a ruler on the table.

"You don't know anything about being unorthodox or heretical."

I personally watched the iron ball land beneath the Moon Gazing Tower.

You bunch of frogs in a well, all you know is to study books to death; you don't even understand the true principles of the world.

Li Gang swept a stack of Mencius books next to him onto the ground.

"From today onwards, the rules at the Imperial Academy will be changed. In the morning, students will study the classics, and in the afternoon, they will all be taught this science by me. Anyone who refuses to study will be kicked out of the Imperial Academy."